ABOUT SUSTAIN

SUrge STructure Atmosphere INteraction Facility

SUSTAIN addresses a significant gap in the existing research infrastructure available to support the development of disaster-resistant and resilient coastal communities. SUSTAIN has the capability to test three-dimensional coupled wind-waves and surge and their combined impacts on structures in conditions as extreme as a land-falling Category 5 hurricane. The laboratory exists as a unique resource for fundamental studies on air-sea interactions, wave dynamics, and boundary layer turbulence while providing an experimental test-bed for model development.

PEOPLE

Our Principal Staff

Dr. Haus is an Professor in the Ocean Sciences Department at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School for Marine and Atmospheric Science. His research focuses on experimental studies of air-sea interactions, ocean surface currents, radar remote sensing of oceanographic processes, shelf and estuary dynamics and wave-current interactions. Key to these efforts are laboratory studies of air-sea interactions and turbulence in the SUSTAIN facility.

After earning a Master of Science degree in Marine Biology in 2002 at Florida Tech, Cedric started working at RSMAS under the direction of Dr. R. K. Cowen. Even though his background is in fish functional morphology, he has personal interests in new technologies and engineering, which allows him to understand the technical needs of biologists and propose new approaches to answer scientific questions.

Michael attended San Francisco State University. He has been a marine technical specialist with the University of Miami for over 25 years. He has worked in a variety of fields, including deep-water acoustics, air-sea interaction, buoy deployment & retrieval, and design & construction of instrument platforms.

Dr. Williams’s degrees include a Ph. D in Applied Marine Physics, University of Miami (1996); M.S. in Ocean Engineering, University of Miami (1982); and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Cornell University (1978). He has over 30 years experience in the planning and execution of experiments in both littoral and deep ocean environments throughout the world, signal processing, computer modeling and mooring and instrument systems development.

Nathan is a fourth-year Ph. D student in Applied Marine Physics working under Dr. Brian Haus. He received his B.S. in Physics in 2011 from the University of Miami. His research involves the investigation of short-scale ocean waves and the ways in which they physically mediate air-sea interaction processes.

Dave is a fourth-year Ph. D student in Applied Marine Physics working under Dr. Brian Haus. He received his B.S. in Physics in 2012 from UCSD. His work focuses on wind-wave-current coupling in the near-shore environment, specifically around tidal inlets.

Sanchit is a first-year Ph. D student working under the supervision of Dr. Brian Haus. He obtained his Master’s degree from IIT Delhi, India in 2012. His current research interests include Fluid Dynamics, Air-Sea Interaction, Field observations and Platform Development, Surface Oil Dynamics using Drifter studies and Experimental Phase Resolved Modeling.

Ming is a first-year Ph. D student working under Dr. Brian Haus. His research involves both the laboratory study of turbulence generated by ocean surface waves and coastal/estuarine numerical modeling (especially with FVCOM, Delft3d, and ROMS).

Hanjing is a first-year Ph.D student working under the supervision of Dr. Brian Haus. She received her M.Sc. in Civil and Environmental Engineering in 2015 from HKUST. Her research interests focus on both fluid dynamics and morphology in coastal regions, by using laboratory and mathematical models she hopes to investigate the realistic evolution of the coastal environment.

FEATURED VIDEO

See what happens.

Our Sponsors

SUSTAIN addresses a significant gap in the existing research infrastructure available to support the development of disaster resistant and resilient coastal communities.